Man safe after lengthy search

Missing for nearly 18 hours, a 73-year-old man was found safe Tuesday afternoon.

By Corky Emrickemrick@sturgisjournal.com

Missing for nearly 18 hours, a 73-year-old man was found safe Tuesday afternoon.

Ronald L. Woods was located in a field just before 4 p.m. Tuesday.

He was spotted by crew members in a Michigan State Police helicopter.

Woods was wearing blue jeans, a flannel shirt and a woodland camel hunting vest with hunter's orange on the inside.

Police in the helicopter first spotted Woods' orange hat and noticed he was lying face down in a field.

As the helicopter descended, Woods rolled over.

He was helped from the field by searchers to an ambulance, then taken to Three Rivers Health for treatment of hypothermia.

Woods was found just inside the Cass County line, a little less than two miles from his home on Dutch Settlement Road.

He was reported missing early Tuesday, about three hours after he left through a rear door of his home following an argument, according to sheriff's deputies.

Deputies began to comb the area as temperatures dropped below freezing. Hundreds of acres in the area of Dutch Settlement and Day roads were searched by air and land throughout the day.

St. Joseph County Sheriff Department Mounted Division searched on horseback, as other auxillary divisions searched on foot and using a 4-wheeler. A K-9 unit from the Michigan State Police Niles post joined the search, as well as police from Three Rivers and Cass County.

"We used every resource available to find Mr. Woods," said St. Joseph County Sheriff Brad Balk.

Authorities said Woods suffers from memory loss caused by a stroke five years ago. Woods told authorities he had seen a patrol car at one point, but thought he was in trouble and laid low, Balk said.

"I can't say enough about the tenacity of the guys who stayed out there searching," Balk said. "It was a great ending to something that could have been tragic."